Football, like other contact sports, is still illegal in Belize due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But, that's not stopping local football fans from anticipating the Belize National Team's upcoming matches in Round 1 of the qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which will take place in Qatar.
Belize is one of 35 teams that is participating from the North, Central, and the Caribbean Region. We're a part of Group E, and so, the national team, the Jaguars, will go up against the national teams from Haiti, Nicaragua, St. Lucia, and Turks and Caicos. The first match for Team Belize is an away game, which will take place on March 25, against Haiti. The second game against Turks and Caicos would have been a home game scheduled for March 30th. But, because the COVID-19 protocols make it illegal to play contact sports in-country, the Football Federation of Belize had to schedule it to be played in the Dominican Republic instead. The announcement of that decision happened yesterday, and already there is disappointment coming from the local football community that there won't really be a home game.
This morning, we got a chance to speak via teleconference with Marlon Kuylen, who is an executive member of the Football Federation of Belize. He explained that the FFB had to meet the deadlines set by the regional governing bodies of football for these qualifier matches:
Marlon Kuylen - Executive Member, FFB
"These are important, huge matches coming up, and for months, we've been - the players have been drills to do individual training to get them in shape, so that when we finally get to come to camp, in a bubble or not, that we can work on the tactical and the technical part of things, instead of trying to get them in shape. Thankfully, we finally received our permission last week Friday, and so, this is how we are now going into camp in a bubble next Monday. However,
deadlines were approaching, and we had to give CONCACAF and FIFA a definitive answer as to where we will play our home games. And so, we made the decision that we had to take it to the Dominican Republic. Why the Dominican Republic is because Haiti is our first match. Anybody with a little geography and history would know Hispaniola is one island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Now, Haiti normally plays their home matches in the Dominican Republic also because their stadium was not FIFA-certified. So, with all the discussions, and all the plannings, and CONCACAF's advice, and seeing that we wouldn't be able to get permission here, we decided to take our match to the Dominican Republic. Haiti just got their certification last week, so, we will play our first match in Haiti on the 25th of March. And then, we jump over to the Dominican Republic, and we play our home match against Turks and Caicos there. Now for the record, we are not the only country in the Caribbean that faces these problems. In fact, Barbados is playing their home match that same day, March the 30th, same time as us, in another stadium in the Dominican Republic also."
"I know there is a lot of disappointment, and it's not only for the fans. We are very frustrated because we see parts of the world, other countries in our region playing, but we understand. We get it. However, even if we had played that game at home, it would have had to be played behind closed doors to an empty stadium."
After those two matches in March, Team Belize will play against Nicaragua on June 4th, and the team will play its final match of the first round against Saint Lucia on June 8th. That is supposed to be a home game. So, Kuylen and the FFB are hoping that the country's COVID-19 picture will be improved enough that the ban on contact sports will be lifted, and that this match can be played in Belize.
Yesterday, the FFB sent out a press release announcing that the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and E-Governance has given them permission to bring in all the national team players to a special camp to train for these upcoming qualifier matches. They will enter their own form of quarantine, where they will be "training in a bubble". Players and the technical staff will be tested for COVID-19 before, and they must remain in camp for the entire period.
